Zion United Church of Christ

This marker describes a church that has since moved. A waymarking page records an addendum plaque saying the text refers to the old location, 629 South Eighth Street in Waco, and that the congregation relocated to the interstate site in 1994. According to the church's own history, as the waymarker reports it, members broke ground in 1992 and voted in December 1993 to take the name Zion United Church (UCC). That history says German remained in use until 1942, while the plaque says use of German ended in 1931.

What the plaque says

Zion United Church of Christ First mission congregation of the Evangelical Church in Texas. Initial services were held for German-speaking people of Waco by The Rev. Friederich Werning (1843-1931) in Presbyterian Church. Frame structure built on this site in 1882 was replaced in 1914 (for $10,000) by present church. Use of German ceased in 1931 when members were using English in homes. The denominational affiliation of congregation has been determined by mergers in which Evangelical and Reformed Church and, later, the United Church of Christ were created. (1972)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Armstrong Browning Library — 5.0 mi
  A three-story Italian Renaissance library on the Baylor campus built to hold A. J. Armstrong's Browning collection, dedicated in December 1951 and now, by its own account, the world's largest of Browning material.
• Dr Pepper Museum — 5.5 mi
  The 1906 bottling plant of the Artesian Manufacturing and Bottling Company, built where Dr Pepper outgrew a Waco drugstore soda fountain, now the Dr Pepper Museum.
• Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum — 5.8 mi
  The official state repository of Texas Ranger memorabilia, opened in 1968 in Fort Fisher Park on the Brazos, named for a Ranger post of 1837 whose site no one has located.
• Waco Suspension Bridge — 6.0 mi
  A Brazos crossing opened in January 1870 as the longest single-span suspension bridge west of the Mississippi, tolled until 1889, closed to vehicles in 1971 and now walked.

More markers nearby

• Brazos River Transmission Electric Cooperative — 1.5 mi
• Hewitt Baptist — 2.5 mi
• Saint John United Church of Christ — 2.5 mi
• Providence Sanitarium — 3.4 mi